Abstract:
Energy transfer has been shown to occur between photoexcited semiconducting organic polymers and single-walled carbon nanotubes. The result could prompt a rethink on the use of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) to improve the efficiency of organic solar cells.Colour plotColour plot

"Our work shows that we have to be more careful about how we use nanotubes in polymer photovoltaics," Robin Nicholas of Oxford University's Clarendon laboratory told nanotechweb.org. "If nanotubes harvest excitons then they might be detrimental to the performance of solar cells if the material is in the wrong part of the device."